Braindrops is the follow up album from Tropical Fuck Storm's 2018 debut A Laughing Death In Meatspace and similarly, written and recorded in the bands home 'Dodgy Brothers Studio' in regional Victoria.

“I've invented fake news as a genre of music,” Gareth Liddiard observes with a laugh. He’s talking about “Maria 63”, the closing track on Tropical Fuck Storm’s Braindrops. The song takes aim at the once-marginalized alt-right conspiracy theories that now seem to be a driving force behind the rise of fascism in global politics. “It’s about a Mossad agent traveling to Buenos Aires to assassinate Maria Orsic, a Nazi witch who telepathically got the blueprints for warp drive engines from aliens,” Liddiard shares.

“It may be the most stupid song ever written,” Liddiard jokes. He’s wrong, “Maria 63” is emblematic of Tropical Fuck Storm’s keen ability to mine the extreme edge of pop culture’s periphery for potent musical and conceptual spice. Braindrops overflows with compelling sounds and visions that reflect the often dark and fractured reality of life on planet Earth as we hurtle toward environmental and social decay at a frighteningly rapid clip.

“Everything we do, we try to do it in a weird way. The whole album is full of weird beats, and just weird shit everywhere,” Liddiard explains. He cites Doc at the Radar Station-era Captain Beefheart as a key sonic touchstone, and Braindrops certainly shares the Captain’s penchant for pounding abstract grooves. Tropical Fuck Storm have achieved a uniquely off-kilter sound on Braindrops. Liddiard partly credits this to the group’s use of unconventional equipment, “We use lots of techno gear to make rock and roll because rock and roll gear is boring, and all sounds like Led Zeppelin.”

Liddiard’s own description of Tropical Fuck Storm’s sound is nearly as interesting and evocative as the music itself. He describes the LP’s title track as “Fela Kuti in a car crash,” and talks of creating a sonic atmosphere that “sounds like chloroform smells” for “Maria 62”. Liddiard can be a bit more taciturn when asked to get specific on the group’s lyrical themes. “It's not always a good idea to be too straightforward.” Instead Liddiard favours a “more nebulous and mysterious” approach.

A recurring theme on Braindrops concerns the various ways the human brain can be manipulated and controlled for exploitative gain. The bracing “The Planet of Straw Men” is a study of human behaviour inside the social media comments section, a place where otherwise reasonable people are seen gleefully engaging in psychotic chest-thumping rhetoric. “It's about everyone having a screaming match,” Liddiard says. “You see two people yelling at each other on Twitter, but they're not really yelling at each other, they're yelling at each other's idea of the other. Meanwhile countries like Russia are taking advantage of this to push their ideologies and get ahead.” Erica Dunn’s “Who’s My Eugene?” contemplates a more personal example of predatory mind control. “It's about Eugene Landy, the doctor that drugged the shit out of Brian Wilson and emptied his bank account,” Liddiard explains.

While Liddiard is careful not to give away too much about the band’s lyrics, he’s confident that audiences will find their own meaning. “If you show a gorilla Hamlet, even if he was capable of reading it, he wouldn't be capable of seeing himself in it. But with humans that's kind of what we do. We have our heads up our own asses.”

Listening to Braindrops is a jarring and exhilarating experience, full of pulsating grooves, black humour, dissonant experimentation, and unsettling dystopian plot-lines. Braindrops is an unrelenting work, from an unrelenting musical ensemble. “Tropical Fuck Storm is a full-on thing,” Liddiard offers. “Everything we do, we do it to death.”

PressClub’s sonic calling cards are all present on their second full length, WastedEnergy; the fuzz-addled, kicked-in speaker bass of Iain MacRae, the razor sharp guitar tones of Greg Rietwyk, the merciless drumming of Frank Lees, not to forget the emotionally charged vocal deliverance of Natalie Foster.

WastedEnergy approaches the microphone through a lens of extrospection. It examines the negative behaviours in the world around us and how we’re all learning to exist in today’s ever-evolving socio-moral landscape. Wasted Energy is broadly about change, and life’s watershed moments that change its course. These shifts are laterally represented lyrically and sonically in many of its songs. Sweeping about-faces and musical departures are an expansion of the musical fibre that make up the PressClub repertoire.

"From the writing and recording to the design and video making... I couldn't be more proud of every single part of this album." Natalie Foster

WastedEnergy follows on from acclaimed debut album, Late Teens, which thrust the group into life on the Australian and European touring circuits.

With a hard-earned reputation for relentless touring, PressClub celebrate the release of Wasted Energy is coupled with the announcement of a massive Australian tour slated for later this year which will see the band play shows in NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, SA, TAS and WA, shortly after their second assault on Europe and The U.K for 2019.

“For some reason being on the road is a tranquil place for us. We’ve all always been pretty intrepid people. To be able to spend another stint in Europe this year, after the first one was so flattering is brilliant. Everything is different from place to place. New cities, new people, new music scenes that operate in completely foreign ways. The one thing that seems to be a unifying constant is music. I can’t wait to hit the tarmac again.” - MacRae

Melbourne’s jadeimagine have released their highly anticipated debut LP BasicLove on Milk! Records / Remote Control. A powerful exploration of the simple vs. the abstract, BasicLove is an existential ride that shimmers through its playful pop-tones and stripped back nature. Emotionally dictated by the wit and noir of Jade McInally (vocals, guitar, synths) and propelled by a band that seamlessly fuses together elements of synthwave and art-rock, this album is an impressive culmination of jadeimagine’s signature style of bleak pop and contemplative new-wave.

BasicLove speaks of the internal and emotional monkey grip that exists within our generation – it’s all meant to feel good even if everything is sinking. Written half on the Sunshine Coast and half in Melbourne, the album encapsulates both the magic and the struggle of existing in a society that’s trapped in-between worlds; the romantic vs. the sci-fi.

With a recording lineup composed of Liam “Snowy” Halliwell (The Ocean Party, Ciggie Witch) on bass, producer/guitarist Tim Harvey (Emma Louise, Real Feelings) and James Harvey (Teeth and Tongue) on drums, BasicLove has a truly dynamic essence. Each member plays a role which tightly considers each sun-filled texture against the bleak nature of Jade’s poetic observations.

The production behind BasicLove nicely adds to the dualistic feel of the album, recording each track live and using exclusively analog instruments to form an organic but artificial sensation. Produced and mixed by Tim with the jumping off point and guidance of Jade’s vision, each track lays gently over a bed of analogue warmth, alluding to past and future technologies and capturing the intimate essence of lo-fi recordings. It has a cohesive yet fluid sound achieved by an impeccable balance that prioritises the space and dynamics between instrumentation and vocals. It’s a neat and timeless production reminiscent of bands like Talking Heads, Broadcast, Blondie, Sonic Youth and Mazzy Star.

Following their debut EP What The Fuck Was I Thinking? (Milk Records, 2017), on BasicLove each member of jadeimagine has consolidated their skills and role as part of a unit to create a powerful album in close consultation with each other. It’s an intimate collaboration where consideration and attention to detail create songs that speak of the personal as much as the political with much lyrical efficiency and technical poeticism.

One of the most highly anticipated albums of 2019, AngieMcMahon's debut LP Salt is out now via AWAL Recordings. The 11 track album is lead by Angie's storytelling as she inspects the sometimes quiet and sometimes brutal lessons that have come with growing into a young woman.

It's been a breakthrough 24 months for McMahon, who was awarded the prestigious Grulke Prize for Developing Non-U.S. Act at SXSW this year (past honourees include Courtney Barnett and CHVRCHES), followed by a string of sold-out international headline shows, coveted festivals spots her breakout single Slow Mover reaching gold status in Australia.

Describing herself as someone who loves honest and romantic songwriting about life, love and takeaway food, it is Angie’s humanness and authenticity that draws an audience in and has filled some of Australia’s most revered venues. As well as support slots for the likes of Father John Misty, The Shins, Alanis Morissette, Angus & Julia Stone, Leon Bridges, Mumford & Sons and The Pixies. Angie has just come off the back of touring with regional festival Groovin' The Moo and has previously performed at Splendour in the Grass, Laneway Festival, All Points East (London), Best Kept Secret (Netherlands) and Way Back When (Germany).